Opera Australia. Massenet's Cendrillon (Cinderella). January 28, 2025.

Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House.  Circle (Seat H14, A$165).

Curtain Call.  The conductor stands between Cinderella and the Prince.  To the right of Cinderella are the step-mother and the fairy god-mother; to the left of the prince are Pandolfe, the step-sisters, and the King.

Story.  See prior entries.  This is an abridged version of the Massenet work, so some parts of the story were skipped over or abbreviated.  As a result, the storyline can be sometimes incoherent - such as Cinderella's claim that she had a long conversation with the Prince at the Ball; as far as I could tell, their encounter was very brief.

Conductor - Evan Rogister.  Cinderella - Emily Edmonds, Prince Charming - Margaret Plummer, Fairy Godmother - Emma Matthews, Pandolfe - Richard Anderson, Madame de la Haltiere - Angela Hogan, Noemie - Jennifer Black, Dorothee - Ashlyn Tymms.

Programs are now free of charge.

I have seen Rossini's and Massenet's versions of Cinderella.  When I read the description of the production by Opera Australia, I wasn't sure if it was the same as the one used by the Metropolitan Opera in 2018.  It became clear that they are the same when the opera started with these pages from the "book" as backdrop.

The OA description does say the abridged version was premiered at the Met in 2021.  And it was in English.  We have not seen the Met version.

This was only a so-so experience.  My biggest misgiving was the storyline that lacked continuity at best, and incoherent at worst.  As I continue to think about it, more of the unabridged French version comes back into focus, and today's performance didn't measure up.  For example, the scene where many Cinderella lookalikes came on was quite dreamy in the Met production, but here it was just puzzling.  

While tonight's soloists generally did okay, and there were quite a few comedic moments, the abridged production didn't allow the individuals characters to be developed more deeply.  For example, that Cinderella was depressed because she was mistreated wasn't brought out in this version.  We saw no instances of mistreatment, except as narrated by her father.  Also, it was a lot clearer that the father grew a backbone in the full production.  Joyce DiDonato as Cinderella, and Stephanie Blythe as the step-mother brought a lot more depth in their acting.  The difference could be due to the individual singers, or the story, or a combination of both.  Generally, tonight's production felt like a comedy with some dramatic moments, rather than drama with some comedic moments.

The surtitles were in both Chinese (simplified) and English.  Recently I have noticed the Australia Opera audience feel a lot freer to whisper (not that softly) during the performance.

The conductor Evan Rogister is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Washington National Opera.  For a while I thought Cinderella was sung by someone whose primary language wasn't English.  She was born in Australia.  This is both artists' OA debut.

This display in the foyer shows the operas staged this season.  The two large paintings in the top row are Cinderella and Barber of Seville; the large one in the lower row is La Traviata, next to it is Cinderella (carriage).  I will see these three operas this week.

The pages of the book form the basis of the set.  One can do a translation and get the gist of the beginning of the story.

This is my annual visit to Australia, and I will spend this week in Sydney.  OA will be performing three different operas during the week, so I got tickets to all three: Cinderella, Barber of Seville, and La Traviata.  That entitled me to a small discount as a "subscriber."

I had an early dinner with Ruth and Stephen, and grabbed a whopper at Hungry Jack's after the concert.

New York Philharmonic. Daniele Rustioni, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin. January 8, 2025.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat AA103, $136).

Joshua Bell after performing Dvorak's violin concerto, with Rustioni looking on.

Program

Overture to The Merchant of Venice (1933) by Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968).

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 (1879, rev. 1880 ad 1882) by Dvorak (1841-1904).

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 (1877-78) by Tchaikovsky (1840-93).

Today's program paralleled yesterdays: a (relatively) modern piece, a soloist, and a symphonic composition.  Yesterday's solo piece was not nearly as well-known as today's; and - good as Leonard may be - Bell certainly has a "better" reputation.  He probably will be on many people's "top 10" list while Leonard may not make a similar cut.  That's reflected in the price also (for similar seats).  Tchaikovsky's symphony is probably programmed more often than Strauss's Zarathustra.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco emigrated to the United States to escape Fascism in the 1940s.  He already had a thriving career as writer of film scores in Italy by that time.  The Merchant of Venice (which I have not read, and know little about) is a comedy darkened by race, religion, and antisemitism (one reason perhaps it's seldom staged nowadays).  Castelnuovo-Tedesco took the many moments and moods and set them to music, not necessarily following the order of the plot.  Overall the piece was a good piece of dramatic music.  (As I don't know the plot, it didn't matter what order the moments and moods were in.  I do wonder how people familiar with the story feels about it.)

The Program Notes describes the progression of the music.  I could follow it when the piece was being played.  Various section leaders got some solo lines, but Frank Huang also had to work very hard at the extensive violin solos.

Frank Huang had a considering amount of solo passages in the Overture by Castelnuovo-Tedesco.  Here being acknowledged by Rustioni.

For some reason I thought today's violin concerto was Brahms's.  It took me a while to recalibrate to Dvorak - and then it made a lot more sense.  Folksy tunes instead of long melodies, for one.  And technically difficult: the Program Notes discusses how Joachim reacted to Dvorak's earlier "drafts" and had many inputs into making the concerto more playable.  The composition was dedicated to Joachim, but he never performed it in public.  We know Joachim and Brahms had a fallout, did that happen between Joachim and Dvorak as well?

Bell handled the technical challenges adeptly.  Slight intonation issues crept in every now and then, but didn't detract from the overall mastery of the piece.  The violin also produced a great tone.

I have two comments on the performance.  The first one is the soloist's sound was often overwhelmed by the orchestra.  During those moments I could still hear the violin, rather clearly most of the time, but kept on wishing the soloist sounded stronger.  An examination of the photos from yesterday's entry would show a larger orchestra for today (4 pairs of first violins upfront yesterday; 5 pairs today).  The second one was that I was surprised there wasn't a lot of musicality (call it story-telling, if you want) in his performance, which was unusual for him.  I ended up admiring his violin skills more than his interpretation.  He had the score in front of him, and referred to it quite often; a surprise for a world-class musician at his prime.

For an encore he played an adaption of a Chopin Nocturne for violin and harp (played by Nancy Allen).  Google tells me it's No. 20, in C Sharp Minor.

Tchaikovsky provided a "program" of his fourth symphony for his patron Nadezhda von Meck.   I excerpt further from the excerpts provided in the Program Notes.  The first movement (andante sostenuto - Moderato con anima) describes fate, attempts to overcome it, and failure to do so at the end.  The second movement (Andantino in modo di canzona) is "another phase of depression" which leads to idleness.  The third (Scherzo.  Pizzicato ostinato: Allegro) is the feeling of slight intoxication.  The Finale (Allegro con fuoco) is a picture of the "festive merriment."

Rustioni decided to take the music for a controlled wild and enjoyable ride.  The orchestra responded beautifully.  While the "festive merriment" did offer much hope that fate did not have to run its course, the intrusion of the fate theme near the end makes me wonder what wins at the end.  I suppose that's subject to interpretation both by the music makers and listeners.  Tonight it was ambiguous, which is perfectly fine.

At the conclusion of tonight's concert.

Tonight's concert was considerable longer than yesterday's, so we caught the 10:23 pm train back.  There were a lot passengers, and some quite loud.

New York Philharmonic. Kevin John Edusei, conductor; Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano. January 7, 2025.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat AA101, $75).

Isabel Leonard and Kevin John Edusei after the performance of Berlioz's "Les Nuits d'ete."

Program

Elysium for Orchestra (2021) by Moussa (b. 1984).

Les Nuits d'ete (The Summer Nights) Op. 7 (1840-41, orch. 1843, 1855, 1856) by Berlioz (1803-69).

Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), Tone Poem (freely after Friedrich Nietzsche) for Large Orchestra, Op. 30 (1895-96) by R. Strauss (1864-1949).

It is just midnight Jan 8 (1 am Jan 9) as I type this.  By this time I had gone to another NY Phil concert.  Later today we will be off on a one-week trip.  I will be quick: just jot down some of my thoughts and observations for these two concerts.  I will also try to do that chronologically: that is, do this one without having the additional insight I got from the Jan 8 concert.  So here we go ...

First, it wasn't my intention to go to these back-to-back concerts.  When I tried to book the season (quite a few months ago), the NY Phil website would only give a limited amount of time for each booking, so I ended up booking two separate batches of tickets.  Either a poorly designed system on their part, or I simply didn't work fast enough.  It was only afterwards I discovered the two concerts are on Tuesday and Wednesday - and NY Phil rarely has a series ending on Tuesday and another beginning the day after, anyway.

"Elysium," to the extent I understand the word, is the Greek equivalent of Valhalla, where good people go to enjoy their afterlife.  Per the Program Notes, Samy Moussa gave his work this name after he finished composing it.  The Program Notes also provides a rather accurate description of the work.  It begins with "a radiantly shimmering B-flat-major chord, sustained by divided strings and undergirded by a bassoon/contrabasson fundament," and ends with "... coming to rest again on a lingering B-flat-major chord - but a far cry from the sonority that opened the piece."  The middle part of this 12-minute piece was where things "happened" (my term), generally interesting, with a wide range of dynamics and range.  Helped by the Program Notes reference, one can tell Bruckner influenced some of the orchestration (calling it "of a cosmic scale" may be too much).  I don't know how this composition is regarded by today's critics and musicologists, but I certain found it enjoyable.  I am not so sure if the image of Elysium will come to mind if one just listens to the piece without the help of the Program Notes, much less the subtleties the piece tries to convey.

Moussa's Elysium calls for a large orchestra.  There were 14 different percussion instruments listed in the Program.  I counted five percussionists.

This was the piece's premiere at the New York Phil.  The composer came on stage.

The term "Summer Nights" perhaps can invoke different thoughts, images, and emotions: relief from the heat of the day, fireflies, sitting on a porch, or pesky insects, thunderstorms and other unpleasantries.  What I didn't expect was a series of songs that speak of separation, death, and regret.  The texts were written by Theophile Gautier: (1) Villanelle, about the start of a new season with hope; (2) The Specter of the Rose, a rose pinned on one's lapel is still a dead rose no matter how much it is admired; (3) On the Lagoons: Lament, weeping for one's dead love lying in a coffin; (4) Absence, searching high and low for one's love; (5) In the Cemetery: Moonlight, the dead are forgotten; (6) The Unknown Isle, sail away with one's love.  (The comments after the titles are mine.)

I remember seeing Isabel Leonard in Dialogues des Carmelites, it turns out I have see her in several other concerts too.  Today she brought out very well the sadness and regret inherent in the lyrics, and her voice carried well into the rear part of the auditorium orchestra section.  Every now and then I noticed some intonation problems, especially when she sang a long, sustained note.

The Program Notes also talked about how "sloppy" Berlioz was in his harmony, often providing that as an afterthought.  And the opinion was by another eminent composer: Ravel.

One problem with Thus Sprach Zarathustra is that the highlight can be found in the first few minutes of the tone poem.  If one studied Nietzsche, or perhaps just the score, one could probably correlate the "messages" the piece is trying to convey.  The sections are listed in the Program Notes: Of Those of the Unseen World; Of the Great Longing; Of Joy and Passions; The Dirge; Of Science; The Convalescent; Dance Song; and Night Wanderer's Song.  As it was, I had a hard time deciding when each section ended and the next one began.  Even though the piece ended in a climax (instead of simply fading away), it was not nearly as gripping or compelling as the introduction.  And it was sloppily done.

Edusei acknowledging Frank Huang, who had a lot of solo passages in Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Frank Huang, the concertmaster, did get quite a bit of work out.  Edusei is German, he studied sound engineering, classical percussion, and conducting (interesting combination) in Germany and The Netherlands.  Tonight's concert was the last of a series of four, so it was puzzling there was still considerable sloppiness in the performance.

Subway 1 had a bit of delay, so we were a bit rushed to make the 7:30 pm concert.  We left soon after the concert ended, and managed to catch the 9:38 pm train back to South Amboy.

New Jersey Symphony. Jeannette Sorrell, conductor. December 22, 2024.

Cathedral Basilica Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ.  Center (Seat Z-2, $89).

Program

Messiah (1741) by Handel (1685-1759).

Artists

Sonya Headlam, soprano John Holiday, countertenor; Ed Lyon, tenor; Kevin Deas, bass-baritone.

Montclair State University Singers.  Heather J. Buchanan, director.

Church as seen from third floor.

Side of church.

Back of church.

I was expecting to be carried away by tonight's performance.  I had heard the NJ Symphony perform this oratorio a couple of times before (once in NJPAC, and once in Princeton Richardson Auditorium), and recall being quite impressed with what I heard.  Tonight's performance was good, but didn't leave me with a "wow, that was splendid" impression.

Perhaps a lot of that can be attributed to the cathedral not being designed with this sort of music in mind.  The large cathedral seats about 1500 people (my estimate) but has room for up to 4000 (many standing, of course).  With its high ceilings, the reverb and echo can last up to 2 seconds.  (I jotted down some of these facts from attending a Beethoven Choral Symphony concert in 2012).  During intermission I talked to the "soundman" in the middle, he confirmed that speakers were used throughout for sound enhancement.

The chorus members sang crisply, precisely, with good dynamics.  Their rendition was generally enjoyable.  Anne did notice - and I agree - that today the sound was generally too young and not quite fully developed.  Overall volume was good: I counted at least 65 chorus members.

The soloists were in general quite good.  The countertenor actually sang with more authority than the one we heard at the NY Phil concert.  For "I know my redeemer liveth," only a quartet and continuo was used as accompaniment, with Wyrick standing up.  I heard the harpsichord clearly, and thought it was Sorrell that played.  She came back on the conductor's podium after this solo, and I still could hear the harpsichord - so much for that observation.  And I am sure the organ was used at times.

End of Part I.

Cellos and double basses at intermission.

End of concert.  From left: Kevin Deas, Ed Lyon, John Holiday, Jeanette Sorrell, Sonya Headlam, and Heather Buchanan.

We weren't sure we would attend this one as Joe P's family was coming down to visit, and we had Harrison with us (he came with me to NJ yesterday on the Amtrak).   At 2:15 hours (including intermission), it was on the short side.  I did a comparison of Part I (NJ Symphony and NY Phil), the NJS version actually contained an extra number.  Selections for Parts II and III, however, were quite different.  NJS had six movements (counting the final "amen" as one) while NYP had 9.

This was our third Messiah this season, and I must say it didn't feel "too much."  There were/are arguments if Messiah should be performed in a secular setting (concert hall) or a sacred one (inside a church); to me it doesn't make a different.  Both seemed appropriate for this time of the year, even though it was first performed during the Easter season.  If we have to pick a "best" one out of the three, it would be the NY Phil one.

Parking near the church was easy to find (we did get there at 6:15 pm or so for a 7:00 pm concert).  The church as limited number of bathrooms, so several port-a-johns were placed outside the main entrance.  It was a very cold evening ...